More Ideas for Madonna's 14th album...

Hello fellow readers,

This post isn't any hint that Madonna has gone into the studio and begun the stages of producing an album. However, I do think that it would be fun to give you some of the ideas I have for her.

Currently, house music is extremely popular right now and we all now Madonna is the Queen of Dance. She boasts over 40 number one dance songs, more than any other artist on the Billboard Dance Club Songs. So it would only seem fitting that she should create an album that contains some deep house music. Not to mention, that we are gearing towards an era of tropical house, what better way to fuse some Indian, Latin, Arabic, Afrobeat or reggae fusion into creating a summer jam of an album? Potentially with the help of Diplo and Skrillex, they can attempt to evolve from Unapolgetic Bitch and make more tracks with a similar good feel vibe.

In addition to this, Sia is on of the most remarkable and talented song writers of our generation, it would only seem fitting that a few pop songs or ballads should be created for Madonna, particularly to train her voice and make her hit stronger notes like in the late 1990s era during Ray of Light and Evita.

Recently, we have seen The Weeknd dominate the charts with some incredible music that one can only describe as alternative RnB. I would love it if Madonna and him would come up with several dark, sexual tracks together to give her a more alternative edge and prove to the world that she is still the queen of reinvention and experimentation. In addition to talented vocalists and song writers, Ryan Tedder from One Republic, Timbaland, Pharrell, Max Martin, Dr Luke, Bonnie Mckee, Diane Warren, Bruno Mars would be extremely pleasing to create some fresh hip hop, pop, ballad like music. Potentially Ed Sheeran and Daft Punk could join the mix to give Madonna a fresh appeal.

Potential collaborations to boast could involve some Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Drake in order to increase her streams, popularity and media coverage. The reason I  choose these artists is because whilst they are not vocally weak, they are not the strongest but neither is Madonna. They function more on the lyrics or the creativity in nature. A collaboration with Katy Perry seems almost like a fitting idea due to the fact she is one of the hottest artists out there.

What do you guys think?

Madonna's Prince Tribute - Flawless or Flop?

Yesterday, Billboard Music Awards was graced with the presence of the Queen of Pop herself to pay tribute to the recently deceased music legend, Prince. Both of these famous icons reached astronomical success during the 1980s and along with Michael Jackson, have been labelled as the 'Holy Trinity' of music. However, only one remains to rule the kingdom, and that is none other than Madonna herself. Prince and Madonna have a lot of things in common - their provocative and sexual nature in their music, they were both born in 1958 (along with Michael Jackson) and both have collaborated on a duet on Madonna's eternal Like A Prayer album. Mixed reviews came flooding in on social media when Billboard announced that Madonna would pay tribute to both her ex and her friend at the Billboard Music Awards. Whilst diehard Madonna fans couldn't wait for this iconic occassion, many people felt that this was a weak choice and would have preferred someone like Stevie Wonder, Beyonce or Lenny Kravitz to take on such a mammoth of a responsibility. This consequently led to mass protest as well as petitions in order to stop Madonna hogging the stage. However, Billboard stood by their choice and allowed Madonna to carry on.

The highly anticipated performance consisted of a Madonna singing 'Nothing Compares 2 U', dressed in a purple suit, on a purple throne with a diamond encrusted cane. Afterwards, the lights turned purple and Stevie Wonder made his iconic presence and assisted Madonna in lighting up the room with the rendition of 'Purple Rain'. Whilst many fans and celebrities showed their support and admiration, media scrutiny soon followed as well. Many felt that this tribute was subpar, Piers Morgan referring to it 'as a karaoke session'. To be perfectly honest, I do not believe that her tribute was poor one yet I don't feel it was very satisfactory to the level of either artists. Whilst the costume itself was iconic and the performance emotional, it didn't THRILL me. Remember the Lady Gaga David Bowie tribute? Gaga incorporated various songs and costume changes in order to show off the amazing catalogue of music Bowie had to offer. This is what I feel Madonna should have done. Perhaps she could've blended in the infamous Prince symbol guitar or done a medley of '1999' 'Cream' 'Kiss' 'Raspberry Beret' 'Controversy' to show off various reinventions of Prince - sex, disco, rock. I feel merely singing Purple Rain was a bit predictable. That would have definitely turned some heads and would have gone as the most memorable moment of the night. Whilst it was the most watched event of the night, it definitely received attention for all the wrong reasons, mostly by ageist, sexist commentators who felt that the only reason Madonna shouldn't do the tribute because she has no talent and that she should retire...

Sorry, are we still talking about the revolutionary Madonna that has managed to remain successful and one of the most relevant artists for over 3 decades, managing to sell a whopping 500 million records and managing to outsell many 'fresh artists' of this generation? I'd think again about the reasons why people dislike Madonna. Sure, the performance wasn't her greatest, but age and gender does not come into play at all and as much as the media tries to destroy Madonna, she always comes out on top as the winner.

Madonna - 'The Perfect' Role Model?

As it has been clearly established, I am a deeply religious Madonna fan which to many of you seems absolutely crazy. But hopefully this article could give you some insight on as to how Madonna is a lot more important to not just pop culture but to our lives in general and how we should look up to her. Recently, after finishing her Rebel Heart Tour she has had severe online media backlash for her late concerts, her custody row with her ex husband and her apparent meltdown. With regards to the concerts, deeply exaggerated and with regards to her being drunk on stage and having a meltdown, far from it! Take a look at the insane routines she must perform every night and how perfectly she does them, someone under the influence would not get past segment 1 of the show. With regards to the custody row with Rocco and Guy, it is honestly none of our business and we have no clue what is going on, only time will tell the truth.

Over her 30 years in the business, it cannot be denied that she has been deemed as a love to hate figurine. The more years that pass, the more we realise that what Madonna was doing at the time was either relevant or a very good thing therefore it can be seen as she is being underappreciated. Let me take you through a few ideas.

During the 1980s, she was one of the primary activists in raising awareness of HIV, feminism, homosexuality, religion and race equality. The danger of HIV lacked concern and Madonna raised awareness of this through actively speaking about it in concert, dedicating songs to her friends and encouraging people to use condoms. With regards to feminism, she is one of the first women to take full control of their musical career and opt what to do next - she was at the forefront for empowering women to become more comfortable as sexual beings without being judged by an older generation - remember the days of Justify My Love, Express Yourself and Erotica? These all potentially laid the foundations for women of our generation to embrace sexuality and know that it's ok to show some skin and your curves. Now look at our generation, teenage cute popstars like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Britney Spears, who all at first had a cute pop persona dived into a more erotic, sexy reinvention for their music yet they barely receive any negative criticisms. Essentially, when someone steps into an unfamiliar zone, people criticise. Now everybody is making a song about being a strong person or about sex and people are so cool about it. Madonna essentially picked up the sledgehammer and smashed the metaphorical judgemental wall of society, giving the future generations the ability to love themselves more.


In 2005 and 2009, Madonna decided to adopt from Malawi two children that were both suffering in extremely poor conditions, suffering from pneumonia, with relatives plagued by HIV and Malaria and gave them a proper home, support and education and love. This is something that they most likely would not have gotten had they grown up in the poorest country in the world. Madonna has not done this as a public stunt, it is because she is passionate about helping others. Don't believe me? She released in 2008 a documentary on the children of Malawi, documenting the harsh truths of the LEDC. In addition, she has created several charities such as the Ray of Light foundation and Raising Malawi. Since 2005, she has been able to build 10 schools and hospitals for children in order for them to have a potential future and to protect them from danger. In addition to this, she has made visits to the Philippines to see the local nurseries and the orphanages.

Take a look at many legends that have graced our planet - Michael Jackson, Elvis, Britney, Whitney Houston, Kurt Cobain...One thing they all have in common - drugs. They all have promoted the idea both directly or indirectly that living the rock star lifestyle provides you the ultimate dream - drugs, sex and money. What happened to them? Essentially, most of them have passed due to drug use, have jeopardised their longevity of their career or have come to a standpoint where anything they do now will never be good enough. As for Madonna, at the age of 57, she still lives which in rock star years is like fossil years! No one has ever come this far to having over 4 decades worth of success with no sign of stopping. Whilst she has tried drugs in her youth, she is human for god sake, she has gone around showing off how amazing it is or gone off the walls and ended up in rehab! Instead, we see her exercising non stop, still producing top notch music, promoting exercise and healthy diets and looking like she is not a day over 40. Her dance moves and routines on tour prove how significant she is and the hard work she implements. Her fitness levels are probably higher than our generations' teens put together. You try looking like that at 57 and working out as hard. At that age, many people say 'enough!' - retire in the countryside and have a nice occasional cruise from time to time. Madonna is clearly not finished.

Madonna started her career from nothing. She came from an extremely poor background where she was learnt that hard work ethic gets you places. She stuck to her studies throughout her adolescent life and then pursued a career in New York, one of the largest cities in the world with only $35. This is no exaggeration. She slept in stranger's houses and worked in Dunkin Donuts for a living as well as doing the thing she dreamt of doing the most - dancing. One of the worst experiences she had was that she was raped and held at knife point in the city. None of this got in her way, as a rape victim and someone who was alone in a whole new environment she managed to make become one of the biggest inspirations to women and men.
Essentially, even before that, she had lost her mother to cancer at the age 5. This was one of the hardest things for her to endure and this pain never went away until the birth of her first child began cementing her heart back together. Her life has never been easy but essentially she hasn't just thrown in the towel either. She carried on living, surviving and being the person she is. That is what people should strive to do, to achieve greatness regardless at how much hatred is thrown at you because essentially you are not here to please anyone - you are here on this earth to make yourself and only yourself happy.

When looking at the Brits, despite people found this hilarious, many people failed to see the true powerful message behind that song and that performance. Fall down, you don't just lie there, you get up and continue. No one could have been more embarrassed than Madonna falling off the stage and so many people would have cried and cancelled the show however she got up and carried on like a champion.

Essentially, looking at her life in general she is the mother of 4 who manages to balance her time with both her children, her health and her music career, which many people struggle to do and usually sacrifice one of them. The fact that Madonna is so hard working is a testament and should be inspiring our generation to reach for our goals and stars and not give up at the age of 20 and become a couch potato.

After Rebel Heart....

Now that the Rebel Heart Tour has finally concluded after a whopping 82 arena gigs, what is next in line for the reigning area of Madonna? As a diehard fan, what should she do next to continue pushing boundaries?

 But before we go on to answer this question, let's just reflect on the massive success of the Rebel Heart era. Like the MDNA era, many people have considered this a flop as the album has gone onto to sell a million copies. Sure, it looks small when you look at The Immaculate Collection that was released over 20 years ago in an era where streaming, leaks and illegal downloads were non existent. Bearing in mind Madonna's album suffered 4 waves of unfortunate demo leaks, lack of radio play and merely 3 singles released, her accomplishments have none the less been huge.

Whilst she didn't top the Billboard Hot 100 with Living for Love and Ghosttown, let's take into consideration why. Well, the simple answer is because she released 6 songs Beyonce style, prior to the set radio airplay date and the production of music videos and in the middle of the week, meaning first week sales would've of course been small. Had she released Living for Love on its own, with the music video, radio airplay and the Grammy and Brit performances all at the same time, there is a high possibility she would've once again reigned in the top 10. Bitch I'm Madonna, whilst seen as a very poor single choice inevitably scored her a Hot 100 showing her relevance still.

Despite not scoring her consecutive Number 1 in the US and UK, let us remember why. Sam Smith just released his Lay Me Down, with 3 music videos and 3 versions of the song so of course the Brits went wild over that. Had he not done that, Madonna wouldn't have been dethroned 1 day before the charts were in. In the US, she had the most digital downloads, album sales yet 2nd highest weekly streams. This seems rather stupid bearing in mind the charts are based on sales of albums, not how many people listen to it. Weight should be placed more on that.

Now let's get on to the good achievements. The 3 singles produced scored Madonna the most number ones of the Billboard Chart of all time. She now has a stellar 46 number one dance songs. Bitch I'm Madonna made her 4th in the ranking of women with most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100. Living for Love, despite the BBC Radio 1 controversy generated her 71st top forty single, more than any artist.

Critically, her album was the best she had in a decade, since Confessions on the Dancefloor, shaming all pop albums released by current female artists this year. Rolling Stone and other magazines ranked the album in the best albums of 2015 and Ghosttown as the best song. With regards to her streams and Youtube views, the Rebel Heart era generated over 250 million views on Youtube in comparison to MDNA which generated about 110 million. Had she released more videos and more singles, imagine the success.

Her promotional endeavours definitely caused her to create a social media uproar. This was particularly evident at the 2015 Grammy awards were she practically mooned the camera and gave a dazzling performance, the BRITS where she tumbled off the stage yet carried on like a true champion and the awkward kiss between her and Drake. Despite what people say, it definitely showed that Madonna was once more the centre of attention. Her Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram accounts have inflated with new followers and likes.

Her Rebel Heart Tour, like her previous tours indicated that Madonna is the Queen of touring. Accumulating all the tours, she has generated over $1 billion and over 15 million people in attendance. Like the MDNA tour, the Rebel Heart Tour was a sold out success, covering Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Her many controversies onstage also generated massive social media outbursts however, these were due to false allegations that tied in with her lateness, technical problems and her intelligent humour. The media enjoy taking using the most powerful respected musicians and trying to downgrade them. However, with over 1 million people in attendance, with rave reviews, sold out shows, it is hard to understand where the media get all their facts from. As an accumulation of all these achievements, she went on to be called both the richest female artist of all time and the most important woman of all time for breaking boundaries with her music, visuals and politics.


So what should be next for the Queen of Pop herself?

In my opinion these are just a small list of things that I think she should do to ensure her next era is even more successful than the next:

• Release a live DVD/documentary - its been almost 10 years since I'm Going to Tell you a Secret and it would be interesting to see the behind the scenes of the Rebel Heart Tour and the life of Madonna on the road. The DVD and live album would give people who were unable to see the tour the 'at home' experience they deserve.

Direct a new film - since W.E., despite it receiving unnecessary mixed reviews, Madonna is clearly a very intelligent and talented director. It would be interesting to see what she would do.

Write more books or autobiographies - Remember he English Roses? It would be really fresh to see Madonna pen some new books, maybe for even a different audience? A new Fifty Shades, a new love story, who knows? Let her imagination do all the work. A massive autobiography on the life of Madonna that has no boundaries would be really interesting to see what the Queen of Pop feels about her 30 years in the business and her intentions for the future. It would definitely make her feel more human to her fans bearing in mind her aura is supernatural. Maybe a new coffee book table like SEX to push the boundaries of ageism and show that a woman's body at 57 is just as beautiful as one at 30.

• Make a new album - potentially one in a new direction? Potentially a rock, a latin, a Ray of Light 2.0? It would be really cool to see Madonna push boundaries like she used to back in the day. Time to get political, spiritual. Maybe a Christmas album with original material to fill the void? A bit generic I know but just to tick it off the list perhaps. New collaborations would be definitely encouraged but they should be both new and old and some songs should just be pure Madonna as she has become overly dependent on new artists helping her compose an album. Let Madonna do what she does best? Her new album should definitely produce more than 3 measly singles, the whole point is to get yourself out there. Bearing in mind Madonna is getting older, she needs to also appeal to her new audience too. So, promotions like interviews, live performances and a catalogue of music videos should do the trick. In my opinion, she should take a leaf out of Beyonce's book and release an album with music videos by surprise.
• Compilation/Remix albums?  - Potentially Madonna should release a new Something To Remember 2.0 or pull a Kylie and rework her catalogue of songs and make them stripped down? I think it would be cool to show a simple and contemporary version of Madonna once more. Then again, she could release a compilation album that has never been done before?
• A new tour - this time it should go back into the light of the Sticky and Sweet Tour. She should attempt to try and beat the records produced by U2 by going on a massive stadium tour. A stadium tour that should cover all the continents. Fans in South America and Europe are of guaranteed loyalty and the bigger the venues and the more venues she plays in the US, Asia and Australia, the more popularity she will recieve. In addition to this, she should try and take her tour to South Africa so she can increase her popularity there too. An all continent tour at the world's most massive stadiums, parks and arenas are exactly what is needed for Madonna to bulldoze all other artists' achievements.
• Acting - despite receiving box office bombs and panned reviews, this shouldn't stop Madonna from continuing to experiment and develop her acting technique. It would definitely grow her audience in the movie field. She could then produce soundtracks or soundtrack singles too.  In addition to this, guest starring on TV shows or sitcoms will also get her face out there. 
• Collaborations - the more collaborations she does and potentially the more features, the more chart success and sales she will receive. Since she is Madonna, she could easily get almost any collaboration she wants. She should take advantage of young artists such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and make something fresh with them so she can continue her chart success and her relevance. She should work with Sia, Diane Warren and potentially songwriters like Ed Sheeran so she can fit in with current generation. You are never too old to make music.
• Business endeavours - Madonna should continue promoting products, doing fashion endeavours and increase her entrepreneurial skills so she can once again branch out into different markets and maintain her powerful status.
• Comedy - continue her Tears of a Clown show and perform her songs that never became singles and have been fan favourites for a long time. Since she wants to do comedy, she should definitely try and make more friends in this business to give her tips and potentially make her own late night show.

I feel if Madonna does all these things, which to be fair sounds like an awful lot for a 57 year old mother, it would definitely bring her back to the absolute top of her game. I sincerely hope her management team will take better care of her career and stop making her so underrated. She deserves way more success, promotion and praise than she gets. 

The Life of 19 A Year Old

Dear Readers,

As many of you are my beloved friends, it would be no surprise to you to know that my birthday is just upon the horizon. I tend to have this tradition to prepare people by simply counting down day by day and acting like an annoying alarm clock you want to throw out the window. Since I will be 19, I thought it would be interesting to do a 'fun fact' kind of blog consisting of 19 things I would consider fascinating about myself, without sounding too boastful.

1. What is the best adventure you've had during your 19 year life span?

• One of the best adventures I have had was when I volunteered in Kenya. I was 16 and to me it felt like my first taste of independence, a whole month away from all my luxuries, families, friends and pet pooch. The first week consisted of climbing Mount Kenya, and let me be the first to say that this was not easy. Walking through heavy rain and mud in an increasing minimal oxygen environment was no picnic. The higher we got up, the more frequent the inner Beyonce would come out. 'Are we there yet?' 'Why are not there yet?' 'Who stole my Kit Kat?' - many infamous quotations. The food was disgusting, never in my life have I ever eaten pink porridge but there is always room for a first! Only, 8 of us, including myself, actually made it to the summit due to many people feeling extremely nauseous. I would definitely consider this a massive achievement as it proved I have a strong mental motivation and despite not being the greatest athlete, my body was clearly capable of overcoming obstacles. Remember kids, anything is possible! ;) After living in rat infested shacks, we went back to our camp and we went on a 5am safari to see the Big 5 and many other animals you wouldn't find in their natural habitat around the world. It was as if stepping into a postcard.
  
• The second week consisted of wildlife project conservations, where we had to make elephant dung paper which would be provided to the local communities for educational purposes. We also had the opportunity to lay the foundations of a classroom in the local area which was extremely rewarding. All the children wanted to help and fetched us water and other raw materials so we could make the mortar and lay the bricks. It was incredibly inspiring to see how ambitious and happy the children were and how this was a labour of love. My scrapbook is filled completely with me and the kids having our thumbs up and me racing them around in the wheelbarrows.
• The third week involved the group participating in local housing projects, we created a concrete floor for one of the houses to prevent parasites infecting the residents as well as this, plastering the walls of another house in order to ensure that its longevity and strength is increased. The community welcomed us with open arms and all the school kids held our hands and starting singing Waka Waka. One of the sweetest memories involved me giving my shoes and science textbook to one of the children I made friends with and my friend had to piggyback me across the entire village back to the campsite. And on top of that, the child actually wrote my name in his science textbook and promised he would never forget me. It is really startling to think how people can be so grateful for what we would normally consider the little things in life and things we take for absolute granted.
  
• There are plenty more stories and crazy antics that occurred in Kenya but this is just a brief overview of some of the amazing memories I had in this beautiful country.
• Morocco would also be an extremely memorable holiday. Sleeping the Sahara desert, riding camels at 5 in the morning to see the sunrise, it was as if I stepped into the Disney world of Aladdin.

2. What are 19 things you would like to do by the time you die?

1. Travel the world, hitting all 7 continents. 5 so far...so who knows?
   
2. Continue to do things outside of my comfort zone i.e. skydive, bungee jump
3. Meet Madonna, my absolute favourite icon.
4. Potentially become a celebrity - I don't know how, why or when - that is a work in progress ;)
5. Be able to make a difference to someone's life - continue doing more volunteering projects, maybe set up my own organisations
6. Learn more new languages - I can speak Romanian, English, partially Spanish and a bit of Japanese.
7. Learn to play more musical instruments- maybe go back to playing piano or learning to play the guitar.
8. Have kids and potentially be married - who knows when?
   
9. Get a rewarding job - not necessarily in monetary value. My passion is to travel so I would love to travel and help people, without caring too much about how much money I receive.
10. To get a really good university degree and have a high standard work ethic.
11. Overcoming my insecurities and helping others to as well.
12. Have a healthy lifestyle - exercise regularly and potentially get the body I've always desired to have.
13. To write a book/s - I have a creative imagination, so who knows? Or maybe a sassy autobiography
14. To leave my mark in the world - no clue how yet.
15. To save someone's life
16. To go into space - technology is advancing so who knows?
17. Contribute to the solution of world problems - extinction, war, global warming
18. To continue making friends and taking every opportunity life throws at me - similar to Yes Man
19. Be who I am and feel like I've lived a fulfilling life, at the end of the day, you only have one.

3. 19 words to describe you?

• Sassy, stubborn, confident, extrovert, immature, childish, crazy, flippant, fun, smart, adventurous, ambitious, hard working, disciplined, loving, imaginative, funny, unique and above all PERFECT obviously ;) !

4. Favourite foods?

• Pasta, Pizza, Steak, Fried Chicken.

5. Lucky Number?

• 3 - anything divisible by it also. All of my family's birthdays have some aspect of it that is divisible by 3 including my own.

6. 19 Favourite Musicians?

• Madonna, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey, Sia, Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Adele, Abba, Bruno Mars, Kylie Minogue, Cher, Jennifer Lopez, David Guetta, Avicii. As you can tell, I have the iPod playlist of an 11 year old girl!

7. Favourite day?

• Thursday - it is said, the day you like the most, is the day you were born on. I was born on a Thursday so I am willing to believe that...

8. Star Sign?

• Pisces

9. Favourite animal?

• Without question, Pippa, my adorable miniature sausage dog. All of my social media is covered in adorable photos of her, some people seem to think I have a weird religious connection to my dog. I am starting to think that too nowadays, particularly being at university it is so hard not seeing her face everyday. Some weird fun facts about her include: she has her very own winter coat that I make her wear on walks, whenever I played piano, she would always sing/howl with the melody, she likes to eat carrots and strawberries and has small dog syndrome.

10. Fictional Character that accurately describes you?

• Olaf from Frozen - Friendly, ditzy and always there for you whenever you need him.
• Ross from Friends - according to Buzzfeed and many of my friends.

11. Biggest fears?

• Falling from extreme heights, creepy crawlies and not living life to the fullest. Basically, me and a tarantula in the same room, you can bet that one of us won't make it out alive. My money's on me!

12. Biggest regret?

• No regrets, move on with your life, learn from your mistakes.

13. Favourite sports?

• I have been part of many competitive and demanding swimming clubs.
• I used to do gymnastics but unfortunately, when things were going well, at an unrelated dodge ball event, someone broke my finger leading me to not do any gymnastics for a few months.
• I used to be part of a rowing team however, I could honestly say I was better on water than on land. Having said that, I did capsize once into the water and got stuck in a tree for 15 minutes. Navigating has never been my strong point.
• Skiing - I am hoping to do this on a more regular event however, my wallet appears to disagree significantly. Honestly, on a student budget, I wouldn't be able to even rent some snow boots! One of my favourite moments skiing was when I skiied straight into a plastic mesh fence and it flipped over it, causing one of my skiis to come off. Another time, I somehow managed to skii twist my skiis and I ended up skiing backwards, causing them to get twisted. I had to get 3 people to get me back on my feet, including two Austrian tourists! Finally, the creme de la disaster would be the time when I went up a blue hill and instead of going down the hill in an S shape, I gained full velocity and I went down in an arrow like fashion. Thank god I didn't kill anyone or hurt myself. I narrowly avoided this as I skiied onto a 10 year olds skiis, which caused me to fall. Had I been 2 cm to the left I would've crashed into the poor child! Anyways, practice makes perfect... so they say, clearly they don't know me!
  

14. Favourite things to do at university?

• Eat, sleep, rave, repeat - to summarise, the life of a uni student. Sometimes, the best nights involve just me, myself and I with my laptop playing a movie or playing some music that chills me.

15. Advice you would give to your younger self?

• It gets better - the bullying eventually stops, although there will be people that you meet that will not like you.
• Be happy, appreciate everything you have.
• Watch out who your true friends are and keep them close to you.
• Do not pretend to be someone you are not because it inevitably will make you more unhappy.
• Work hard because it really pays off.

16. People that inspire you?

• My family - encourage me to not make mistakes, to be a respectable citizen, to help others, to work hard and achieve my goals.
• My friends - inspire me to become a more social person, to make more well rounded and aware of the world around me. One good example would be, one of my two best mates from secondary school have taken a gap year to Australia on their own. That honestly takes balls and my Facebook lights up with so many fantastic pictures and memories that they created. They have seized life by their horns and that is exactly what I want to do. Inevitably, friends make you want to live your life to their fullest. People that make a difference inspire me basically...
• Musicians - have inspired me to imagine, to think outside the box and simply enter a world that I can relate to. Whether its to feel empowered, to get out of this world or to simply have a good time, music inspires my personality as much as physical things do.
• Teachers - they aren't given enough credit for what they do. Without them, your possibility of a future career is almost bleak. Be grateful they spend endless hours your benefit.

17. Song that describes your life?

Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

18. How do you feel about becoming 19?

• I honestly feel terrified - I feel like I almost out of my teenage era and ready to become a full functioning adult. For everyone that knows me, it is fair to say, one year will definitely not transition me. At the same time, I'm not in my deathbed, I'm still young, healthy and can do what I want with my life. Life is an experience with lessons along the way that will get checked off. Live your life, check off your list and enjoy it!

19. How you celebrating your 19th birthday?

• Dinner with my amazing flatmates, day out with my dad and my mum will be coming up so we can see Ellie Goulding in concert. Overall, a very exciting week to look forward to, however, tonnes of work to get done.

That being said, over and out, I hope you enjoyed this blog!

Which Lana Del Rey album is the best?

Lana Del Rey's Discography

Welcome fellow readers,

As many of you are aware, I love to listen to music and I decided that I would like to share with you what kind of artists I enjoy listening to. Whenever I'm running out of hilarious anecdotes, I'll compensate with music related blogs.
So, today, I thought I would start with the one and only Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey has been one of my most played artists in the last 4 years and to say that I am infatuated by her music is an understatement. She breaks convention on what is now a 'branded' and safe music culture where the charts are dominated by house or viral music. She brings the old into the new in the form of a dark beautiful fantasy. With 3 studio albums and an EP, I feel she has definitely accomplished a lot. In this blog, I am going to rank them from best to worst. Feel free to comment your opinion and what you think of her in the comment section.

4. Paradise - Despite being the last in the ranking, this does not mean this album lacks in musical quality. In fact, its rather the contrast. The only reason I feel it is last its due to the amount of songs the album contains. This album was part of the re-release of the Born to Die era yet I feel it is more like an artificial limb and an independent body of work rather than an organ of the album in question. 9 songs including my favourites - Gods and Monsters, Ride and Body Electric. The album includes the classic cover of Blue Velvet, used for her H and M campaign. Whilst the album contains some really good tracks, they all mirror the nature and theme of Born To Die, seemingly plucking out the rejects on the original edition. Either way, I am glad she released them.

3. Honeymoon - This is potentially the least darkest album of Lana's discography. Equally dreamy, yet less gritty and chilling compared to her other masterpieces. Several highlights would be - High By The Beach, The Blackest Day and Swan Song. This album experiments with a tinge of electronic for the first time and reintroduces the trip hop beats from Born to Die, giving it a breezy and whispy tone, living up to the album titles name. Whilst some songs are quite dark, they are equally cinematic, orchestrated masterpieces. Despite a few filler tracks, its certainly refreshing to hear a lighter side to Lana Del Rey. Maybe she's becoming an old romantic or 'happy'? time will tell I suppose.

2. Born To Die - my original love that made me become a lifelong Lana Del Rey fan. After hearing Video Games on the radio, I didn't think much of it, until one of my friends introduced me to the album and I instantaneously was hooked. Despite the similarity between all the songs, it firmly established herself as a new brand of artist. The album is a mixture of trip hop and alternative music focusing on the double edged nature of fame and romance. Top highlights from this album would be - Summertime Sadness, Dark Paradise and Carmen. Each song is creates a visual and it brings back an elegance to music that hasn't been seen in a while in the mainstream market.

1. Ultraviolence - Despite some disagreements, I definitely feel that Ultraviolence is my favourite album from her discography. This album is not for the faint hearted, it touches an very sexual themes as well as controversial subjects such as drugs, domestic abuse and the glorification of death. Unlike her other albums she draws inspiration from rock music and the album as a whole sounds more grainy, almost like a demo to give it an edgier sound. My favourite tracks would be Black Beauty, Shades of Cool, Ultraviolence and Brooklyn Baby, simply to name a few. This album is very sombre and creates a world that the faint hearted or cheery should not enter. The album as a whole has a very rock n roll yet jazzy and church like vibe. I would definitely recommend this album on a rainy day anytime.

18: The Age Crisis

Greetings fellow readers,

Since there has been a very large gap since my last personal blog post, I thought I would spend the early crack of dawn (in UK time) updating you on where I am right now in my life.

For all of my dear friends and family that read this blog, they will hopefully know that I am 18. That's right, I'm at university studying law, I can now drink alcohol legally, I can drive and I can basically control what I do with my life. With my birthday just around the corner, I had a very deep moment of thought. Perhaps it's because 'nothing good happens after 2 o'clock' but I asked myself - what am I? An adult, a teenager, a child stuck in an ageing man's body?

I look back at my 'youth' years and begin to simply think where the time has gone. It all started through looking at my itunes music. I think it's fair to say the whole world knows of my religious nature towards Madonna's music and any 18 year old can say remember the good old days when 4 minutes was released and how it was their jam of 2008. That, ladies and gentleman of my generation, was 8 frickin' years ago!
It has been 8 years since we were in primary school, playing with our cool Nintendo DS's and Wii. Not to mention, who remembers the massive responsibility of Tamagotchis, playing on Minecraft, spending hours on end on the Sims 2?

That was when teachers would ask us where we would see ourselves in 10 years time. Its funny to say that I seemed more certain of my future back then than I do now. FYI, I wanted to be a rich celebrity! But for people that really know me, I can barely sing and when I dance I look like a puppet on strings.

I have now hit the phase where my curious teen nature has fizzled out, in relation to drugs, alcohol, sex, hormones, the arguments with parents. I feel like I ticked off my list or that my 'wild' phase has gone. Personally, I believe drugs are a gateway to absolute suicide and whilst curiosity is natural amongst teenagers, it is not something that should be taken into the extreme. I have seen people deteriorate over such things and by the time you reach my age, you begin to see that its simply not cool anymore.
The good news is, acne has begun to die down off my face. The tip is, always wash your face! With regards to hormones, I've had less rollercoaster phases and have definitely been able to control my emotions a lot better. Don't worry kids, it gets better, people bully less, people try to avoid arguments (remember - your life isn't a soap drama or Mean Girls) and in this day and age we welcome people of all kinds with open arms!  

With regards to alcohol, it feels so crazy to think I tried my first ever drink at the age of 16: it was so hardcore - it was a shandy! I know, I am proper hardcore when it comes to my drinks. One drunk story I would care to share would be that I threw myself in a sandpit and pretended I was a swimming teacher. That same night, I had a group meeting with some fellow drunk friends and we all started crying about our problems. Student life, eh?

Its so crazy to think that my generation was the youngest and probably the primary generation that got into social media. Boy, was I cool when I started putting all kinds of crazy filters on my photos for instagram? To me, the Nashville effect was all the craze.
In terms of Facebook, I remember not being allowed to have it but my friend made it for me secretly and I began to think that me having it was probably the most rebellious thing I did at the time.

As you can tell, even as a child my rebellious nature was out of control, I should have been put into a military academy or something to put me on the straight and narrow path! For all my friends who have me on Skype, I used to be a massive fan of the webcam and to me, taking pixelated pictures of me looking deep in thought or with animated seaweed and bubbles surrounding me was cool. Nowadays, I just stick to selfies or me with toursit landmarks.

Has anyone nowadays even heard of BBM or MSN? People nowadays use a lot of Snapchat, Vine and Twitter! Believe me guys, that trend started long ago. Not many people play Angry Birds or Temple Run anymore do they?

Nowadays, people find it hilarious that Adele used a flip phone in her music video for Hello. Let me get this point ironed out, when I was 12, I had a flip phone and I genuinely thought it was revolutionary, it puts into perspective how much technology has changed nowadays.
For every profile picture I had, I pretty sure I used a very #whiteboy quote or a lyric from a rapper to seem 'edgy'. Nowadays, if I scroll through my photos I'd literally smack my hand on my forehead and ask myself - was I possessed or something?

The common Facebook statuses - 'i am bored, message me' or 'like and I'll say something I like about you' are equally cringeworthy to see these days. Note to self, if you have to resort to asking people to talk to you, then you really should question if you have a social life!

Music used to be a lot better too. I remember listening to LMFAO or Taylor Swift and thinking I was so cool. It once again turned out that my attempts were futile! But not too worry, the weirdness lives on! Now it's all about EDM and listening to 'indie' stuff to seem like you are part of the group.

The world has changed so much and I look at the next generation's teens and begin to nod my head like an old man in a 'tut-tut' manner. Language is evolving, slang, abbreviations. They probably have never heard of the expression 'swag' before or the overuse of 'YOLO.'

One of the weirdest things I see is that kids have hoverboards and roll around on the street like a bunch of aliens with their 'squad.' I was the kid that liked to ride a bike or use my super speedy scooter with one foot. I'm clearly not as down with the kids or hip as some might think I am. Girls nowadays focus more on their eyebrows and squatting game and feeding their egos through likes. One thing I'm really glad to see is that guys have finally stopped being absolute gangsters and wearing their trousers so low as to expose their underwear. Seriously, what were people thinking?

So, as my birthday approaches and I get to celebrate one more year of living as a teenager, I can't help but feel like Rachel from friends on her 30th birthday. The future seems scary as workload increases, independence grows and the idea that I have to maintain myself. It's crazy to think how over the course of 18 years, so many things have changed. It's quite scary to think most of the stuff I did or had are now considered vintage. But, in a way its interesting to think about the future as well and what it has to offer.

Where do I see myself in 10 years, probably in a job and thinking about having kids or hopefully in a relationship. I know, proper simple things in life. One of my main ambitions is to travel and do once in a lifetime opportunities before it is too late with my friends or by myself. Its weird how I turned from a baby faced child to a baby trapped in a man's body. I wonder if I will still be a party animal like I am nowadays. Will my body still be able to cope? Who knows what new and marvellous trends or creations are waiting to be discovered? What's next...? Only time will tell....